The Horde

Igor Baranko is fast becoming one of my favorite graphic novel writers. I'm a huge fan of "Shaman" and Jihad" - this is one of his earlier works -Amazing artwork - (in the same vein as the great work of Moebius and Enkil Bilal) and his writing is smart and razor sharp. There are elements of not too distant sci-fi that incorporates the politics of the former Soviet Union. Highly recommended.

This graphic novel has everything: a resurgent Russia/Soviet Union run by a dictator who's also a former science fiction writer (complete with a fusion of Nazi/Soviet graphic design--sorta like if Eduard Limonov & the National Bolsheviks took over Russia), a Chechen dervish who's also an avatar of Shiva, the unquiet spirit of a long-dead Mongolian lama who was also the last reincarnation of Ghengis Khan, a telekinetic Ukrainian colonel born in Chernobyl who thinks the world is run by a Jewish-Masonic conspiracy... oh, yeah, and UFOs who steal the body of Lenin. Don't worry, it all makes sense at the end. Sort of.Melding together Tibetan/Mongolian Buddhism, Islamic mysticism, and science fiction, this comic is a triumph of Jodorowsky-style mystic weirdness. Some people live, some people die, and some people finally resolve their karma. It's bloody, strange, futuristic, does a good job touching on the esoteric doctrines of several incompatible belief systems, and the artwork is flat-out amazing. Highly recommended!